Lot Essay
Aphrodite is said to have been born from the foam of the waves and thus it was but natural that single maidens should send their invocations to her near the sea. Alma-Tadema has placed a quintet of lovelorn women over-looking the Mediterranean, from a perilous vantage point. They pray for their men to come home swiftly and with riches. Alma-Tadema's painting was inspired by a verse from Horace's "Odes" (I:30), which gives this invocation:
O Aphrodite, daughter of the sea, come to me
Accompanied by your fervent son and the Graces,
without waistband, and the goddess of youth,
who without you has no charms, and don't forget
to bring mercury.
The work had originally been commissioned by Agnew's and titled, The Ever-New Horizon, Opus CCCLXXV, October 27, 1903 (V. G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, p. 266, no. 409) (fig. 1). It was a revisitation by Alma-Tadema to a theme used in the similar composition, Coign of Vantage, Opus CCCXXXIII, 1895, in the Getty Collection (V. G. Swanson, p. 253, no. 371), which had been sold in America before it could be exhibited in Europe. At Aphrodite's Cradle is a complete reworking of the earlier oil, The Ever-New Horizon, which was the last oil Tadema completed before his masterpiece The Finding of Moses, Opus CCCLXXVII, 1904 (V. G. Swanson, p. 267, no. 410; see lot 87). The earlier 1903 state, The Ever-New Horizon, is mentioned by Percy Cross Standing while writing of the Egyptian "Moses" picture:
So hard and continuously did he labour at it
that in the Academy of 1904 he was represented
by only one canvas, this being the dainty tone-
poem entitled, The Ever-New Horizon. It is a
small canvas and so wretchedly was it placed at
Burlington House, between two huge life-sized
portraits that completely killed it, as to call
forth complaints from many visitors to the
Academy.
Tadema must have harkened to these complaints for he eventually repainted the oil, making significant improvements to the composition, particularly with the addition of two women. The finished picture, At Aphrodite's Cradle, is in terms of color and emotional thrust more successful than his Coign of Vantage. The anxiously awaiting women are more compelling than the earlier oil. The dizzying perspective is now subordinated to the collective anticipation of each of the five women.
Alma-Tadema has painted out most of the coign and made it narrower at the base so that more of the sea is visible. The standing girl to the upper left with an outstretched arm now places her left arm around a female companion dressed in white. The marble pylon behind the women has been nearly elimiated revealing the coast-line behind. In front of them is a dark-haired maiden in fushia dress, leaning on the marble parapet, who was also not included in the earlier painting. In the right foreground is a kneeling figure, whose appearance has been slightly altered form the 1903 oil. She now wears a wreath of roses in her long strawberry blond hair. The figure in the right background in the 1903 oil has been replaced by a maiden in a violet dress with white dots, looking out to sea whilst shielding her eyes; she is similar to the woman in Hopeful, Opus CCCXCIV, 1909 (V. G. Swanson, p. 272, no. 423).
We are grateful to Professor Vern Swanson, Director of the Springfield Museum of Art, Utah for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
O Aphrodite, daughter of the sea, come to me
Accompanied by your fervent son and the Graces,
without waistband, and the goddess of youth,
who without you has no charms, and don't forget
to bring mercury.
The work had originally been commissioned by Agnew's and titled, The Ever-New Horizon, Opus CCCLXXV, October 27, 1903 (V. G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, p. 266, no. 409) (fig. 1). It was a revisitation by Alma-Tadema to a theme used in the similar composition, Coign of Vantage, Opus CCCXXXIII, 1895, in the Getty Collection (V. G. Swanson, p. 253, no. 371), which had been sold in America before it could be exhibited in Europe. At Aphrodite's Cradle is a complete reworking of the earlier oil, The Ever-New Horizon, which was the last oil Tadema completed before his masterpiece The Finding of Moses, Opus CCCLXXVII, 1904 (V. G. Swanson, p. 267, no. 410; see lot 87). The earlier 1903 state, The Ever-New Horizon, is mentioned by Percy Cross Standing while writing of the Egyptian "Moses" picture:
So hard and continuously did he labour at it
that in the Academy of 1904 he was represented
by only one canvas, this being the dainty tone-
poem entitled, The Ever-New Horizon. It is a
small canvas and so wretchedly was it placed at
Burlington House, between two huge life-sized
portraits that completely killed it, as to call
forth complaints from many visitors to the
Academy.
Tadema must have harkened to these complaints for he eventually repainted the oil, making significant improvements to the composition, particularly with the addition of two women. The finished picture, At Aphrodite's Cradle, is in terms of color and emotional thrust more successful than his Coign of Vantage. The anxiously awaiting women are more compelling than the earlier oil. The dizzying perspective is now subordinated to the collective anticipation of each of the five women.
Alma-Tadema has painted out most of the coign and made it narrower at the base so that more of the sea is visible. The standing girl to the upper left with an outstretched arm now places her left arm around a female companion dressed in white. The marble pylon behind the women has been nearly elimiated revealing the coast-line behind. In front of them is a dark-haired maiden in fushia dress, leaning on the marble parapet, who was also not included in the earlier painting. In the right foreground is a kneeling figure, whose appearance has been slightly altered form the 1903 oil. She now wears a wreath of roses in her long strawberry blond hair. The figure in the right background in the 1903 oil has been replaced by a maiden in a violet dress with white dots, looking out to sea whilst shielding her eyes; she is similar to the woman in Hopeful, Opus CCCXCIV, 1909 (V. G. Swanson, p. 272, no. 423).
We are grateful to Professor Vern Swanson, Director of the Springfield Museum of Art, Utah for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.